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95% of Inside Sales Teams Sales Are Irrelevant with Key Accounts on LinkedInAuthor: Kristina Jaramillo, Personal ABMPosted: October 21st, 2020Download |
To respond to the “digital movement” that was created by C-19 and the pausing of live events and in-person meetings, companies like NetApp reorganized their sales organizations. They turned inside sales teams into “digital sales response” teams where it’s their responsibility to move stuck accounts that came in from digital channels. These teams need to build the necessary relationships and provide unconsidered value but, they are challenged because they are showing little to no relevance.
Because LinkedIn’s 2020 State of Sales Report showed that 44% of companies are seeing a significant decrease in responsiveness to outreach because of C-19, I had my team review LinkedIn profiles, content and messaging to see why. We found a disturbing trend. At least 95 percent of LinkedIn profiles show little to no relevance to the key accounts they want to win or the key customers they want to keep or expand. We figured we would see an improvement over time as we become more reliant on social media to build strong relationships, but the irrelevance trend continued as leadership, sales and marketing teams pushed out more invites to connect and more messaging.
When Looking at the Profiles of Inside Sales Teams We Found That Profiles Do Not:
LinkedIn Profiles Are Simply Resumes and Do Not Build Trust with Prospects
LinkedIn’s 2020 State of Sales Report also showed that 62 percent of decision-makers look for an informative LinkedIn profile when considering connecting to or talking with business leadership or sales. Yet, most of the profiles we reviewed are:
The Lack of Relevance Is Not Limited to Profiles.
When we reviewed the connection invites and nurture messages that my team received during the past four months, we noticed that inside sales teams are not being personal. They’re reading as if the messages are fill-in-the-blank templates, which means inside sales teams are speaking “at” accounts and rather than to people.
Can this be the reason over one-third (34 percent) of respondents to a Pipedrive State of Sales survey mentioned that they think prospecting is going to be the biggest challenge for salespeople in 2020? If you are not relevant, how can you build trust and a strong digital relationship with buyers?
In times of uncertainty, trust only becomes more important. Not surprisingly, as organizational trust erodes, buyers seem to crave it even more. When Edelman surveyed buyers on the qualities they value in a salesperson, they ranked “trustworthy” (47 percent) at the top, followed by “responsive” (44 percent) and “expert in the field” (40 percent). The sales teams that are successful (even now when it seems like no one is buying) are seen as “trusted advisors.”
Inside Sales Teams Can Build Trust and Strong Digital Relationships with Prospects By Having Profiles and Messaging That:
Through our virtual LinkedIn training, you will see why inside sales teams should invest in personal branding on LinkedIn, as well as how they can better communicate their unique value. You can get the on-demand training at http://stopthesalesdrop.com/linkedintraining
About the Author:
Kristina Jaramillo, president of Personal ABM and partner at Stop the Sales Drop, helps leadership, sales and marketing teams win, protect, and expand deals with target accounts. By shifting social communications and increasing relevance on LinkedIn, Kristina’s team created $2M wins with accounts that were previously unresponsive for 5+ years.
Learn more about Kristina’s personal account-based approaches for winning on LinkedIn by registering for her upcoming LinkedIn training at: http://stopthesalesdrop.com/linkedintraining.
Research, Relationship, Trust, LinkedIn, Message